Flashback: Olympic debt - Greek edition

Greek debt spirals after Olympics

Excerpt:

Greece is facing a massive budget deficit as it tries to absorb the cost of the Olympic Games.

The expected 7bn euro ($8.6bn; £4.8bn) burden means the national deficit is set to hit 5.3% in 2004, said Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

He said the previous government was to blame, for concealing the extent of Greece's economic troubles.

"A large part of Olympic, social and other spending was not written up in the budget," he said.

"The real deficit was not recorded... The public debt exceeds even the most pessimistic of estimations."

Flash forward to 2010!


Euro Tumbles on Greece Concerns

Excerpt:

Moody's warned Greek authorities that if the country doesn't stick to its austerity plan, its credit ratings will be cut, with the magnitude of the downgrade depending on how much the government deviates from the plan

Comment: Google "Greek + Debt" or "Greece + Debt" for hundreds of articles about this crisis! Blame it all on the Olympics? Absolutely NOT! But governments need to learn to say "no" like Colorado did in 1972!